Doctors, the unemployed squeezed by Congress's inaction

Doctors' Medicare payments cut; some jobless workers' benefits run out

By

RuthMantell

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- About 1.2 million jobless workers are expected to lose unemployment benefits this month, and doctors are starting to see a 21% cut in Medicare payments Friday, following the Senate's inability to move forward with the far-reaching jobs and tax-extenders bill.

However, on Friday the Senate did approve a special measure to delay the Medicare payment cuts for six months. The House of Representatives is expected to consider the measure next week.

The American Medical Association said the cut is in place until positive action from the House. "Congress is playing Russian roulette with seniors' health care," said Dr. Cecil Wilson, president of the AMA, in a statement on Friday.

"Congress has finally taken its game of brinkmanship too far, as the steep 21% percent cut is now in effect and physicians will be forced to make difficult practice changes to keep their practice doors open," Wilson said, adding that a longer-term fix is needed.

"This is no way to run a major health coverage program -- already the instability caused by repeated short-term delays is taking its toll," Wilson said. "About one in five physicians say they have already been forced to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Nearly one-third of primary care physicians have already been forced to take that action. The top two reasons physicians gave for these actions were the ongoing threat of future cuts and the fact that Medicare payment rates were already too low."

Thursday evening a Senate vote fell shy of the 60 votes needed to move forward with the far-reaching jobs and tax legislation that would have reversed the reduction in Medicare physician payment rates, increasing their rate by 2.2% through November. The Senate voted 56 to 40 on a motion to invoke cloture on the bill.

Movement on the overall bill has stalled amid ongoing concerns about widening the deficit. In an effort to woo votes, Democrats' latest proposal pared down various provisions of a prior version of the bill, including a reduction of the Medicare doctor rate patch to a period of six months, from a previously proposed patch that would have lasted 19 months.

Despite scaling down the bill, Democrats so far have failed to win the needed support.

"Every single Republican voted to give doctors a 21% pay cut, and prevent millions of seniors and veterans from getting the medical care they need," said Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, in a Thursday evening statement.

There will be an impasse "until Republicans step forward," a Reid spokeswoman said Friday morning.

Unemployment benefits run out

Delaying the bill also means that more than a million jobless workers may lose unemployment benefits this month. A prior extension of some federally-funded unemployment insurance benefits recently expired, and the legislation proposed a new extension through November. As many as 1.2 million jobless workers will be cut off from federal unemployment benefits in June due to Congress's lack of movement on the bill, according to an estimate from the National Employment Law Project.

Trying to contain costs, the latest Democratic proposal would have cut weekly benefit checks by $25 for some job seekers.

Responding to concerns about adding to the deficit, the newest version of the Democratic bill would have slashed $22 billion in spending from a prior version of the bill that would have widened the deficit by about $80 billion over 10 years. However, the current bill still proposes new spending, plus controversial tax hikes on some investment-fund managers and certain service professionals.

Earlier this week senators voted against moving forward with an alternative tax and jobs bill proposal from Republicans that would have cut funds for state and local governments to invest in infrastructure, dropped a temporary funding increase to help states pay for Medicaid, and eliminated a proposal to raise taxes on hedge-fund managers, among other changes.

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